This morning I woke up lying in the aftermath of my week in Boston. A week that I could never, even in my writer’s imagination, have imagined. I needed to keep my lens, through which I focus the week’s happenings, adjusted properly. I knew today was going to be a day of coming down, coming home, and landing in my everyday world, forever changed by my Boston week. And I did want the landing to be soft…soft and kind.
First things first. Morning tea in my own chair – news on TV. Just one of the small things I didn’t know I loved so much until I was away from it for a week. I knew a workout was in order to get the bones in gear after the first night in my own bed. After a great workout at fit club, I came home to lunch and a text from my Boston daughter:
“Dayna and I are headed to Fenway today to drink, watch the games and celebrate Boston like a true Bostonian.”
Yay. Good for her. She landed and found a lens with which to deal with the trauma that held her city hostage this week. I admired and felt her Bostonian pride. I live on Cape Cod, but just being up there teaching for the week during this, had my heart ringing with a little camaraderie too. I spent the week with a WONDERFUL family that offered to share their home with me for the week, making it possible for me to do the children’s workshop in their town. We instantly bonded on Monday and that bond strengthened throughout the week as we sat huddled over the news reports all week long. They had a young child so we kept the TV off. We fed our curiosity via the Internet and they offered me the comfort of not being alone like I would’ve been had I stayed on Cape.
After lunch I sat down with a blanket and the Red Sox pre-game ceremony started on TV. That’s it. I lost it. Tears. Here ya go if you haven’t seen this video:
See what I mean?
My daughter was at the Cask N Flagon outside Fenway and texted how the whole bar sang the National Anthem. Good for her. I’m glad she’s left in a good place in her city she loves so.
4:00 my husband and I made our way to the West Parish of Barnstable for the 4:30 service. The band, Skywatch, was playing and I wanted to go see my yoga buddy Jo-Anne sing. It just seemed fitting to end this week, and begin another, with something to do with God. The pastor quoted my other friend’s blog on Finding Perspective that I cited on Monday. He reiterated finding the proper lens to view this tragedy, not letting it color our outlook with negativity.
I think I found it. It was in the eyes of the children I worked with all week. It was in the gentle hospitality my host family showed me. It was in the Red Sox pre-game show. It was in the camaraderie my daughter found at Fenway today. It was in the soul-searching music my friend sang about in church tonight.
And so, as another day goes by, it’s embedded in my heart tonight that people are stronger than they appear, the good in this world far outweighs the bad, I have landed softly, and …I have written.
This was such a moving and beautiful post. Thank you, Linda.